Index Astartes: Smoke-Jaguars
by Mattwho81
Summary: Born amid the ashes of tragic misfortune the elusive warriors of the Smoke-Jaguars were cast into solitude and forced to stand alone for millennia, now restored to the light they fight for their place in the galaxy. Wherever Tyrants, Heretics and Traitors lurk the Smoke-Jaguars will be there and they will let nothing stop them hunting down the enemies of Man. Art by Eddmos
1. Chapter 1

**History**

The history of the force that would one day be known as the Smoke Jaguars begins in the halcyon days of the Great Crusade with one man, a Space Marine of the Raven Guard, named Sedaxus. Born on Deliverance in the last days of the Great Crusade, Sedaxus, like many people in those days, held his Primarch in reverent awe, a facet of his personality that was only amplified when he was selected for induction into the XIXth Legion.

Sedaxus proved ideal for implantation and his training was swiftly completed. Though he never excelled enough to be marked out for high rank, he was still marked down as a solid, dependable warrior and assigned to the ranks. Sedaxus went on to fight for the Raven Guard during the very last battles of the Great Crusade and was slowly carving out a name for himself but then came the horrors of the Horus Heresy, Istvaan V and the Drop Site Massacre.

Caught in the nightmare of betrayal and insanity, Sedaxus showed uncommon initiative and guile by leading a breakout from the killing zone in the first moments of the betrayal and overran an isolated Iron Warriors strong point that had been expecting only to engage a shattered and demoralised foe. Sedaxus led the assault himself and then personally held a narrow evacuation corridor open as dazed survivors filed past. The Iron Warriors reacted by swiftly redirecting their artillery to annihilate the defiant Raven Guard but by then nearly fifty Legionnaires had evacuated out into the wastes.

Sedaxus led his rag tag band of survivors into the wilderness and swiftly linked up with other surviving units of the XIXth, fighting at first merely to survive but then joining Corax in his campaign of vengeance. In the hurried reorganisation Sedaxus was made a Sergeant and together with his fellows fought in the front lines of battle, seeing the corruption of the enemy first hand, the infamous Ninety-Eight Days on Istvaan V and the miraculous deliverance by Commander Brand.

Sedaxus then followed Corax out into the stars and fought throughout the years of the Horus Heresy with his Legion. As attrition took its toll, he rose to the rank of Captain and took command of his own sub-fleet. Sedaxus' forces swiftly gained a reputation for taking revenge upon the enemy, going to great lengths to hunt down the greatest leaders of the Traitors and cut them down. However these deeds were not mad acts of rage but instead tempered by cunning and guile and it soon became just one more weapon in the arsenal of the XIXth as they fought through the darkest days, seeing the Ruinstorm and the Siege of Terra from afar, the fall of Horus and the days of the Scouring descend upon the Imperium.

Terrible were the battles of those days but Sedaxus never lost faith in his Primarch's teachings and followed him unerringly, then came the day that Corax himself summoned the Captain and told him dire news. The world of Copan XII, one of the Legion's remote recruiting worlds in Segmentum Tempestus, was under threat from an Ork Waaagh led by Warboss Hed'breka. The loss of even a minor recruiting world was unacceptable in this time of rebuilding, especially as it lay close to the Loyalist forgeworld of Alar-Median and Sedaxus was charged with leading his forces to the region to defend Copan XII until the full might of the Legion could be brought to bear.

Corax ordered that above all Imperial rule must continue unchallenged and that the enemy be hunted down.

Sedaxus wasted not a moment to gather his sub-fleet, leading them into war and launching a series of aggressive strikes on the Orks with utmost alacrity, the initial reports were promising and it seemed victory would come swiftly but then tragedy struck. Without warning one of the scattered remnants of the Ruinstorm surged back into life and engulfed the sector surrounding Copan XII in a geyser of madness and insanity.

The already wounded Imperium reeled at the power of the storm, which left dozens of worlds scoured bare of life and all contact was lost with Sedaxus' forces. The High Lords declared the entire region a lost Realm of Man but this was just one more tragedy in an age of woe and it soon became another footnote in the teetering data stacks under the Palace. As for the Raven Guard Legion they mourned their losses and recorded the names of the lost with due reverence in the rolls of honour. Then they moved on to new wars.

Yet what no one had any way of knowing was that this new Ruinstorm was but a hollow front swirling around an epicentre of dead calm, a hurricane racing around an eye in the storm. Communication and travel into and out from the epicentre was impossible yet within that dead zone it was still possible to make the shortest of Warp Jumps and so a tiny little remnant of humanity endured. Trapped within that becalmed spot were a dozen loyal worlds, the Forgeworld Alar-Median and Captain Sedaxus facing an entire Ork Waaagh with only his own forces to depend upon.

Captain Sedaxus evaluated the situation and immediately recognised that his few hundred marines could not defeat an entire Waaagh by conventional means, even with fresh recruits from Copan XII they were wildly outnumbered. Sedaxus realised that the only chance they had was to strike off the head of the beast and throw the Orks into disarray, so he set a trap.

With great cunning and guile Sedaxus allowed a small group of Ork Kommandos to learn his location and used himself as bait to draw Hed'breka into a frontal assault on Copan XII, but true to the Axioms of Corax, he was not where the enemy expected him to be. Even as the Orks launched a full invasion of Copan XII, Sedaxus led his small fleet on a stealth infiltration. Operating under the cover of Reflex shields, his ships drifted into position and then launched boarding torpedoes into Hed'breka's flagship at point blank range. Beset on all sides, the Space Marines fought their way to the bridge of the Ork warship, and though it cost them three quarters of their force, Sedaxus made it into contact with Hed'breka and cast the Warboss down in single combat.

With their Warboss dead, the Orks soon fell into infighting as lesser warlords fought for supremacy, breaking up into smaller gangs and firing upon each other even as they fled. The Orks were defeated but not destroyed and they retreated to the edge of the dead zone, claiming the most ravaged and broken of worlds where they dug in and began to expand their numbers once more, as is ever their bestial way.

Meanwhile Sedaxus' forces had been ravaged in the fighting and knew he had nowhere near enough forces to eradicate the Orks entirely but he was confident that the Ruinstorm could not last forever and decided to establish a permanent base of operations at Copan XII. Above all he remained true to his last orders: Imperial rule must continue unchallenged and the enemy must be hunted down. As new recruits were selected for training and inducted into the ranks, the small band recovered its numbers and began a campaign against the Orks. Using precise surgical raids to keep them divided and prevent one single Warboss from rising to power.

The dozen human planets realised that the Space Marines were the only force keeping the Orks from razing their worlds and so pledged material aid, most especially Alar-Median whose support was essential to keep the few hundred Astartes viable as a fighting force. As time passed inside the dead zone a microcosm of the Imperium came to be, a tiny interstellar civilisation fighting for survival and awaiting the return of the Emperors light, which soon became the local religion.

Years became decades, then decades became centuries which inevitably became millennia and for six thousand years the Space Marines fought to preserve a tiny pocket of humanity against a hostile universe. Slowly the original generation of Astartes died out, even Sedaxus falling to the blades of a rampaging Ork and the newer recruits grew up knowing nothing of Deliverance or the wider Legion. As history became legend even the name 'Raven Guard' fell into disuse, the new bloods letting their heritage sink into dusty old traditions and myth as a new culture arose and the Marines of Copan XII eventually came to identify themselves with their world's most fearsome predator: the Smoke-Jaguar.

Thus, life continued in the dead zone for six thousand years until one day, without warning or explanation, the Ruinstorm mysteriously blew out, exposing the tiny pocket empire to the wider galaxy once more.

Sensing opportunity, Rogue Traders were swift to take advantage of the change, racing to seek riches amid the ruins but they were surprised to find not the swathe of dead worlds they had expected but rather a functioning interstellar civilisation. To the peoples of those worlds this was nothing less than the fulfilment of prophecy and they jubilantly welcomed Imperial emissaries with great festivities and celebrations, the Rogue Trader's eyes glinted with avarice at the prospect of exploiting these people but there was something they were not prepared for: a fully extant and functioning Space Marine army.

The initial contact between Smoke Jaguars and Imperial emissaries was cool but the Astartes had been waiting generations for the Emperor's return and were determined to take their place amid humanity's defenders. The revelation of the state of the galaxy, not to mention the breaking of the Legions was perhaps not as shocking as one might think, none of the Smoke Jaguars had ever seen the Imperium of old and all they had to go on were distorted myths and half-remembered legends but the one memory they had preserved perfectly was that of Corax and his last orders.

For their part the High Lords were shocked and disturbed to find an unsanctioned and autonomous group of Space Marines emerging from nowhere and many potentates called for their immediate eradication while others embraced their presence. The matter was put to debate in the Senatorum Imperalis but the Smoke Jaguars' ruler, Shade-Lord Q'umarkaj, was not willing to wait for distant politicians to make a decision. Swiftly assimilating the technology, tactics and strategies common to Astartes everywhere, he led his Marines into the stars where they threw themselves into Imperial wars.

First, the Smoke Jaguars cleansed their little pocket of Orks. Then they spread out across Segmentum Tempestus, offering their aid anywhere they could, their numbers were few, yet their skills were undoubted, and they played a vital role in many dire wars. Word quickly spread of this new force and the Smoke Jaguars carved out a reputation as a fierce, if exotic, warrior band who were above all else loyal to the Emperor and unwavering in their zeal to hunt his enemies.

After two hundred years of debate, the High Lords finally made a decision. In 012.M37, special dispensation was granted to declare the Smoke Jaguars a Chapter in their own right and to take their place among the Adeptus Astartes. A gift of ships, weapons and gene-seed from the vaults of Terra was sent to Copan XII and the Smoke Jaguars, for the first time, were able to bring their numbers up to a full one thousand brothers but as great as this boon was, it paled in comparison to being accepted by their fellows. The Raven Guard and the other successors of the XIXth Legion finally welcomed the Smoke Jaguars as lost cousins and gifted them with relics and totems of great significance; most precious of all being the shards of Corax's armour, quills torn from his own jump pack on the fields of Istvaan V.

This boon was of unspeakable worth to the Smoke Jaguars for they had struggled to establish their own identity in the galaxy and to them this was more than a memento of their Primarch, it was physical proof that they deserved to stand among giants. It was irrefutable evidence that they were not just some lost cast-offs from another force but proud warriors worthy to stand as equals, with their own unique identity and culture.

Taking the shards of Corax in his hands, their Shade-Lord Q'umarkaj declared that the Smoke Jaguars would forevermore serve the Imperium and the ideals of Corax and all would know that they were as worthy as any other Chapter to fight in the name of their Primarch and the Emperor.


	2. Chapter 2

**Home world**

Copan XII is a life bearing world that lies unusually close to its star. When this is combined with its large oceans, it produces a tropical planet of heat and humidity. The equator is bound by deep swamplands that taper off into vast impenetrable jungles which stretch all the way up to the poles. Imperial attempts to introduce off world crops failed utterly, for the swift growing jungles overcame any attempts to clear the land and aggressively destroyed any foreign flora.

Civilisation on Copan XII is confined mostly to great Ziggurat cities located upon high mountains. These are fed by terrace farming which supports a black powder level society that worships the movements of the sun and stars as manifestations of the Emperor's will. Great stone astrological calendars chart the heavens and a priestly caste directs the lives of the inhabitants in all matters according to their interpretations of the Emperor's will. Beyond the mountains there is only endless jungle so thick that the light of the sun can barely touch the ground. In this eternal twilight dwell fearsome predators: serpents, arachnids, reptiles and most fearsome of all, the feline Smoke-Jaguar. Any traveller in this vale of shadows must be eternally alert for threats from all sides; even the plants are not safe for the brush is thick with strangle-vines, Venus Mantraps, hallucinogenic pitcher plants and mucus secreting bushes with tendrils so strong they could snare an Ogryn.

The Space Marine Fortress-Monastery on this world is a series of linked Ziggurats that rise above the jungle canopy like mountains in their own right, here the Astartes of the Smoke Jaguars train and hone their skills, practicing arts of stealth and subtly that they have preserved for millennia. During their long period of isolation the Smoke Jaguars uncovered an STC for a resonant harmonic technology; from this the Tech Marines developed several devices that the Adeptus Mechanicus instantly coveted as soon as they heard about them. These includes an ultra-low frequency vox that is nearly impossible to detect, sound dampening servo motors for power armour and a vibration based weapon that resonates metal with ultrasonic waves, thus a humble blade can adjust itself to match the resonance frequency of a target and quickly slice through it. A side effect of this technique is that the resonance makes the metal appear black, giving rise to the appellation 'Obsidian Blades', a somewhat misleading title as their tensile strength far surpasses mere glass.

The Adeptus Mechanicus was incensed to discover that a technology they had reserved for their elite Ruststalker Commandos was in the hands of an Astartes Chapter but there was little they could do without offending the Tech-Priests of Alar-Median, a Forgeworld they were eager to bring back into the fold after the period of long isolation. Eventually a compromise was reached whereby the Chapter would provide any and all STC data in exchange for sanction to use any devices derived from it, in a gesture of good faith the Smoke Jaguars also provided a variety of toxins native to Copan XII, which centuries later proved essential to the development of Hell-Fire rounds effective against the Tyranid menace.

The Smoke Jaguars utilise a variety of these vibrational weapons, ranging from the humble Obsidian Blades of the initiates to the potent and terrifying "Transonic Lightning Claws" that are reserved for their greatest heroes and the Shade-Lord himself. The brothers bear these weapons out into the stars and the last thing countless heretics have heard is the distinct buzz of an Obsidian Blade powering up as a Smoke-Jaguar appears from nowhere and slides a black blade into his heart.


	3. Chapter 3

**Shade Lord K'inich Yux**

K'inich Yux is the current ruler of the Smoke Jaguars and is renowned as a cunning and patient warrior, one who can always find unexpected paths to victory and who never willingly spends the lives of his men without good cause. Under his astute guidance the Smoke Jaguars have tracked the spoor of countless heretics, traitors and tyrants, penetrating defences most thought impregnable and bringing down targets no frontal assault could ever reach.

K'inich has never sought glory or fame for his deeds but so many are they that word has spread regardless. The most well-known being his assassination of the Heretic Prioress Hellane Kyoarn whose deviant Convent was preaching discord and had been excommunicated from and besieged by the Adepta Sororitias. Following a ten-year siege of the Fortress-Abbey, then Captain, K'inich Yux infiltrated the defences alone and unassisted, secreting himself in the grounds where none could find him.

For forty days and forty nights, he prowled the Fortress-Abbey completely undetected as he memorised the Sister's patrol patterns and learned their weaknesses, neither storm nor siege assault could stir him to action until he was satisfied he knew every inch of the Abbey and every aspect of its defences. Then on one still and silent night he struck, slipping past every patrol, sensor and trap, he crept into the Prioress' private chambers and took her head with his Obsidian Blade while she was at prayer.

He left that night without disturbing so much as a hair on the head of a single guard and when the Sisters found their leader's headless corpse their sanity shattered, and they threw themselves into one last mindless charge right into the guns of the besiegers. The Fortress-Abbey was subsequently razed, and the ground sown with salt, but all knew who the true victory belonged to. Many decades later K'inich rose to the rank of Shade-Lord, taking up the Transonic Lightning Claws of the Smoke-Jaguar's rulership.

K'inich's reign has been marked by his fierce drive to establish his Chapter's place among the stars. He deliberately seeks out other Astartes and Imperial armies to lend his brethren's aid, they rarely stand in the front lines of battle but their actions in the unseen and quiet corners have turned the course of many wars. Though he never deploys his Marines in large numbers he is determined that all shall view his Space Marine's arrival as an undeniable asset, so strong is this drive that K'inich has even reprimanded or demoted several of his men who showed callous disregard for the lives of others or treated mortals as disposable cannon fodder.

K'inich Yux has led the Smoke Jaguars from strength to strength. Though they will never rival the galactic renown of the First Founding Chapters, the warriors of Copan XII have become an invaluable weapon in the Imperium's arsenal. With the Shade-Lord leading them the Smoke-Jaguar's star seems set only to rise ever higher.


	4. Chapter 4

**Combat Doctrine**

The Smoke Jaguars have spent the vast majority of their history fighting alone and as such have developed a vehement disdain for battles of attrition or bloody charges into the teeth of enemy fire, instead they favour lightning raids behind enemy lines seeking to disrupt the foe and keep them off balance. At all times they avoid being on the defensive and will withdraw entirely if in danger of being pinned down by a foe, only to return from an unexpected direction and with a new strategy.

When confronting a numerically superior foe they prefer to create confusion by striking at communication and transport links. When the enemy moves to counter, they will disappear, only to return with lightning raids on bases and munition depots. As the foe redeploys to guard their infrastructure, the Smoke Jaguars will launch a series of assassinations on key leaders or warlords. Then when the enemy moves to protect their leaders, the Space Marines will strike at exposed troop units.

When confronting enemies as mobile as they are, such as Traitor Marines, the Smoke Jaguars will become even more elusive. Disappearing into mist and shadow only to suddenly overwhelm enemy squads one at a time. So the Smoke Jaguars wear the enemy down piece by piece, never appearing where expected, never using the same strategy twice and they see no shame in withdrawing if confronted by an unwinnable battle. Yet ultimately their end goal is never to eradicate every individual enemy but rather to isolate and expose their central command, at which point the Smoke Jaguars will bring their full might to bear and obliterate the leadership in one fell swoop.

These tactics were tested and honed for millennia against the Ork menace and proved so effective that the understrength Chapter was able to keep the Greenskins at bay for six thousand years. Once they returned to the Imperial fold the Chapter gained access to the full panoply of Astartes war gear and the heaviest of equipment, yet they never truly favoured such cumbersome tools for at heart they remain a rapid infantry force. That is not to say they are incapable or unskilled in brutal warfare but rather that they hold such forces as tanks, dreadnoughts and Terminators back as a strategic reserve, only to be unleashed at the most pivotal moments of the war or when the time has come to crush the enemy's leadership with overwhelming force.

When working alongside other Imperial armies these tactics have proven devastatingly effective, disrupting and confusing any enemy so badly that they are left helpless before the grinding march of the Guardsmen or rapid strikes by other Astartes Chapters. In particular the Smoke Jaguars have proven exceedingly skilled in bypassing fortifications; walls, sensors and sentries presenting little obstacle to these Sons of Corax. Countless heretics and Xeno warlords have been cut down within their own impregnable sanctuaries by a single Astartes who disappears as swiftly as they appeared.

On the rare occasions that the Smoke Jaguars have been called upon to fight wars of total annihilation or perform the exterminatus the Space Marines have complied with grim, focussed dedication but they have never favoured such acts and these deeds are not celebrated within their walls. Though they do understand that the taint of Chaos must sometimes be burnt out, root and branch, they find such deeds wasteful and regrettable, an admission of failure and lax vigilance rather than a triumph to be celebrated. For the Smoke Jaguars, the ideal war is one that can be ended with a single shot.


	5. Chapter 5

**Burning Vengeance**

If the Smoke Jaguars can be said to have inherited any traits from their Primarch it has to be his burning need for vengeance. Corax's propensity to hunt down the worst tyrants and those who prey upon the weak then bring retribution unto them in full measure. Perhaps this is some mutation of their gene-seed during their long isolation or maybe it was instilled in them through their endless wars with the Ork menace, where taking the head of a single Warboss is oft more effective than a thousand slain foot soldiers. But whatever the cause, the Smoke Jaguars feel an overwhelming need to hunt down the worst transgressors and bestow a fearful punishment upon them for their sins.

After their return to the bosom of the Imperium, this tenancy was a cause of no little strain with Terra, for Imperial authorities were exasperated by the Smoke-Jaguar's tendency to disappear at critical junctures of wars in order to hunt down a single Traitor or notorious Xeno. The Shade-Lords were fighting for a place in the galaxy yet were also unwilling to abandon their hunts and they struggled to find a solution to this conundrum. In the end a compromise was reached when the Chapter resurrected the principle of the Moritat, a lone brother or squad selected to hunt apart from their fellows and stand outside the order of battle.

Now, when the Smoke Jaguars go to war, they will always study the foe to seek out the worst and most notorious villain amongst them. Yet this is never the biggest Warboss or figurehead of rebellion but rather some minor lackey committing unspeakable deeds under the shadow of greater foes. The Smoke Jaguars will select a small band of brothers from across the ranks and send them on a quest to bring down the sinner by any means necessary, stalking their prey alone or in small groups the hunters will track their quarry inexorably and silently until the time is right to strike.

No matter where they run or how many defences they prepare the target will be brought down and the hunters swear never to return until retribution has been enacted and justice has been done.


	6. Chapter 6

**Organisation**

The Smoke Jaguars are not a Codex compliant Chapter for they follow a far looser and more fluid structure. The brothers are grouped into standard squads, but these are not permanently attached to a Company. Instead of a hierarchy of Captains, the Chapter has a Shade-Lord and nine 'Bo'oy-Ahau' or Shadow-Chieftains, who serve as his voice and strong right arm. When sent on a mission an officer will select as many squads as he deems appropriate from those available to serve as his company. This company will stay together for the length of the mission then dissolve when they return to Copan XII. However, over time, certain combinations of squads have proven more effective than others and certain Shadow-Chieftains would never go into battle without select squads by their sides, but this is a matter of personal familiarity as opposed to an imposed structure.

When deployed into war the Smoke Jaguars rarely stay together as a single force, instead preferring to split up into groups comprised of two or three squads and operate independently in the field. To facilitate this the Shadow-Chieftains will appoint a pair of 'Batabs' or War-Leaders to lead the Demi-companies in battle. These will operate autonomously throughout the war but always co-ordinate their overall efforts with the Shadow-Chieftain. When the time is right all the forces will converge on the final target and assault the enemy's leadership from multiple directions, even if one attack is successfully repulsed the other groups will break through and eliminate the target.

The Smoke Jaguars stress flexibility in battle and so favour versatile Tactical and Scout squads in most instances as Devastator and Assault squads have a more specific role and require more care to deploy to maximum effect. In a change from the Codex, the Initiates typically enter the Tactical squads at the beginning of their career and are only accepted into more specialised roles once they have proven they can be trusted with such important roles. The pinnacle of this philosophy are the elite Veterans and Terminator Reserves, who (whilst numbering far fewer than a standard First Company) are highly prized for the sheer power they bring to the battlefield.

The Smoke Jaguars have always boasted a full host of Apothecaries, Techmarines and Librarians but the role of Chaplain was only introduced once they regained contact with the Imperium and learned the ways of other Chapters. In most Chapters Chaplains act as spiritual and moral guides, exhorting the brothers to feats of valour and selfless sacrifice but to the Smoke Jaguars they take on a far darker and sinister role, urging the initiates to expose their most violent and terrifying countenances. For a Chaplain to lead an attack means that it is not enough merely to break a foe, they must be totally destroyed. Down to the last man, woman and child! And when led into battle by the skull masked Chaplains the Smoke Jaguars become utterly relentless and implacable, going to extreme lengths to ensure there is not a single survivor.

There are some in the Inquisition who say that this is just a mask for an even darker mien, they whisper of rites of blood drinking and the human sacrifice of enemies and innocents alike in the hidden bowels of Smoke-Jaguar's ships... yet these detractors have never managed to provide any evidence to support this accusation. Those who have actually fought alongside the Smoke Jaguars refute any such smearing of their good name and proclaim that this is just the gossip of those who would see all Astartes leashed, picking on an isolated and remote Chapter. Sadly, as with all aspects of the Smoke Jaguars, the truth remains elusive.


	7. Chapter 7

**Shadow and Flame**

Though the Smoke Jaguars have always sought to establish good relations with other Chapters and Imperial institutions, this has not always been successful. Sometimes misfortune mars the bonds between friends and sometimes two Chapters are simply too divergent to hold anything but utter contempt for each other.

The Smoke Jaguars are known to have clashed with the Black Templars on a few occasions. A strange situation since they are both offensive forces with little regard for static defence. Unfortunately, the Black Templars propensity for mass frontal assaults and bellowing challenges sits ill with the sons of Copan XII while the Smoke Jaguars stealthy approach seems underhanded to the sons of Dorn. The two Chapters have never formed more than distant and icy bonds but will fight together when the situation demands it.

The Smoke Jaguars also have a strained relationship with the Carcharodon Astra. It is unclear when the two elusive Chapters even met but every encounter between them has been marred by distrust and intense scorn. The reasons for this remain shrouded and mysterious, for the two Chapters share much in character and disposition but it seems that while the Smoke Jaguars seek to reconnect with their legacy, the Carcharodons actively reject theirs, one embracing the past while the other scorns it.

These are black marks on the Smoke Jaguars records, yet they pale in comparison to their vehement dispute with the Fire Lords Chapter, whose aggressive and unthinking brutality is in direct opposition to the sly Sons of Corax. Every encounter between them has ended in strife and bitter recriminations, the best example of this was in 456.M39 when the two Chapters fought together to suppress a rebellious world. As is their way the Fire Lords commenced their assault with a wide spread bombardment of incendiary missiles to saturate an enemy strongpoint. Unfortunately, the blasts also caught several Smoke-Jaguar squads who had spent hours getting into position.

The Fire Lords refused to give satisfaction to those who, "Shouldn't have been skulking about there anyway" and the Shadow-Chieftain was forced to entirely withdraw his units from the campaign before blood was shed. The Fire Lords for their part cite several instances when the Smoke Jaguars refused to support their assaults for being too "Wasteful and unnecessary" as examples that the Chapter is unsound. This grudge has grown into a fully-fledged feud and now the two Chapters hold each other in contempt, doing everything they can to avoid each other and barely speaking to one another when this is not possible.


	8. Chapter 8

**Beliefs**

The Smoke Jaguars take great pride in both their accomplishments and the number of foes they have brought down but despite all that they do not really see themselves as soldiers, not for them holding a line on a map or advancing territorial borders. The Initiates view themselves as hunters first and foremost, seeing their purpose as being nothing less than to track down and eliminate the worst heretics, traitors and Xenos in the galaxy.

Yet at heart the Smoke Jaguars are highly spiritual Chapter, much given over to ritual and mystical philosophies including a belief in prophecy and astrology. The Chapter's librarians spend much time charting the movements of the stars and mediating upon their findings to divine their Chapter's future. This symbolism extends to the Emperor himself who they view as the life-giving light of the galaxy. While they do not deify him as an all-powerful god, they do hold that his self-sacrifice against Horus allowed the Sun-Emperor's mind to fly free and become a mighty power in the Warp.

They hold that upon death the spirit is freed to travel to its true home. For mortals this is either to join with the Sun-Emperor or to be consumed by Chaos but as for their own brothers they believe that their souls return to the Fortress-Monastery to stand guard over the Chapter in the spirit world. For this reason the Smoke Jaguars attach intense importance to their dead, going to great lengths to recover their bodies and return them home to be ritually mummified and stored with due reverence within the crypts under their home. Given their covert nature this is not always possible, so the initiates also strive to ensure their names endure, carving their names and deeds in glyph form upon the walls of their Fortress-Monastery or erecting proud steles on its grounds.

The Smoke Jaguars hold that one is not truly dead until they are forgotten, so they memorise as many name-glyphs as they can, thus lost souls will find their way home to continue their battles in the afterlife. The ultimate embodiments of this are the Chapter's Dreadnoughts, who are held in reverence as the Living-Dead, still fighting on beyond death to protect the living.

Yet what the Chapter seeks to hide with these superstitions and dogmas is that the Smoke Jaguars harbour a terrible sense of disconnection with the wider galaxy, the long isolation severing them from their legacy and inheritance. For this reason, the brothers are driven by a compulsion to prove their worth to the galaxy, seeking to demonstrate their right to stand among humanity's defenders by merit of their deeds.

This urge becomes an outright obsession when dealing with matters regarding their Primarch. Having spent six millennia expecting to be reunited with their gene-sire the revelation of his unexplained disappearance was a shocking blow to their psyche. Since then the Smoke Jaguars have spent many centuries seeking any hint of Corax's presence or the smallest clue as to his fate but there has been nothing and every search has ended in bitter failure.

Despite this the Chapter holds Corvus Corax will return someday and until then they cling fiercely to any touchstones of his they can find.


	9. Chapter 9

**The Nameless**

In mid M.40 the Smoke Jaguars were rocked by a betrayal so vile it shook them to the core and threatened their very soul, one of their Shadow-Chieftains was corrupted by the Ruinous Powers and pledged his allegiance to Chaos. This alone would have been a stain upon the Smoke Jaguars' honour, one that would have demanded immediate and fierce retribution, but the worst horror was yet to come.

The vile Traitor hid his allegiance and quietly gathered a select band of brothers to his side, corrupting them each in turn and enslaving them to Chaos. Then, as one, they struck. Not at the Chapter's base or its members but at its very soul. Using the skills, the Chapter itself had taught them the Traitors infiltrated the Reclusiam and stole away the Shards of Corax, dividing the relics up between them before fleeing to the stars and scattering to the nine vectors.

The Chapter was horrified by the betrayal, this went beyond mere heresy or treason. The Traitors had struck at the heart of the brother's pride and destroyed the bedrock of their self-identity, by doing this the Traitors had stolen not only the Smoke-Jaguar's legacy but their very right to exist. The brothers were beyond enraged, the calls for vengeance and retribution ringing from the walls of the Fortress-Monastery and maddened by rage the Shade-Lord decreed the worst punishment he could envision: he ordered that the Traitor's names be erased.

The Fortress-Monastery was scoured top to bottom and every glyph referencing the Traitor's was gouged out, every stele toppled, and data-crystal smashed. No record of them was to remain for they were to be utterly forgotten. Henceforth they were only to be known as the Nameless. By the creeds of the Smoke Jaguars this act condemned their spirits to wander forever lost in the cold void, unable to return home and unable to know peace or rest for an eternity of suffering, a punishment the Chapter considered worse than death.

With their spirits destroyed all that remained was to eradicate the Nameless' physical forms. Sadly, this would prove far easier said than done. The Nameless had scattered far and wide, many subsuming themselves into Chaos warbands or pirate fleets. The chase to find and destroy these heretics would fill a library stack, were any records of them permitted to exist, shadowy hunters tracking equally elusive prey across barren worlds and blood-soaked battlefields.

For five hundred years the pursuit continued, the Nameless falling one by one to the Obsidian Blades of the righteous and the Shards of Corax were wrested back until at last the Traitors had been exterminated, but all was not well. When the final account was made barely half of the Shards had been recovered, the rest secreted away in quiet forgotten places where none would think to look.

To this day the Smoke Jaguars still scour the stars seeking their lost legacy, ever alert for whispers or psychic resonances that may lead to finding a lost shard. It remains a bleeding wound upon their psyche and the Chapter's soul will not be whole until every Shard has been recovered, until their right to stand proud has been restored and the treachery of the Nameless is totally erased.

And yet there are those who whisper that they may have underestimated the cunning of the Nameless, that one or two of them may have feigned their deaths and might yet be abroad in the galaxy, plotting a terrible revenge.


	10. Chapter 10

**Gene-Seed**

The Smoke Jaguars were formed long after Corax's doomed attempts to enhance his Legion's gene-seed and as such suffer the same tragic side effects as their progenitors, their skin is ghostly white whilst their hair and eyes slowly turn black after implantation. The brothers have lost the use of their Betchers Glands and Mucranoid organs and also suffer worryingly high rates of implant rejection among their recruits, thus they struggle to maintain their numbers or replace serious losses. During their long isolation the Chapter was barely able to keep its numbers up to half that of a conventional Chapter and it was only after their re-emergence that they were able to increase their numbers in a significant way.

To ensure only the finest aspirants survive to reach the implantation phase, the Smoke Jaguars have a particularly brutal selection process, forcing youths through dangerous and arcane tests to weed out the imperfect. These include marathon races through the most dangerous jungles, ingesting toxic poisons and walking into the deepest crypts to commune with the mummified dead, a rite not all return from. The final test is to track Copan XII's most dangers predator, the feline Smoke-Jaguar and slay it single handed, then take its fangs and claws as totems which they shall bear for the rest of their lives. Whereas most Astartes on average accept one in ten applicants the numbers who survive this final trial are barely one in a hundred and this is before implantation has even begun.

The Chapter's Apothecaries or 'Canmai-Ahau' practice strange rituals and it is clear their surgical knowledge has badly degraded for they are strange figures to behold, covered as they are in bones and the shrunken heads of slain enemies. In addition to tending to the living they also care for the dead, performing the ritual mummification and interment of the honoured fallen and overseeing the preservation of name-glyphs and steles.

As the Chaplains are chiefly concerned with matters temporal, the preservation of the Chapter's ancient rituals falls to the Apothecaries, they perform most of the sacred rites and hold the ancient wisdom of their ancestors. Over time this has degenerated into an actual belief that the apothecaries can speak with the dead and the Brothers view them as spirit mediums, ones that can draw upon the ghosts of their ancestors to guide them in life.

Some outside the Chapter claim this denotes a dangerous spiritualist streak and low mysticism in the Smoke Jaguars but the Apothecaries do not claim any supernatural authority or power, limiting their words to upholding the morale and morality of the brethren. In this they often stand in opposition to the bloodthirsty Chaplains, the grim black-clad warriors counselling wanton destruction while the barbaric bone shakers call for a more measured approach in keeping with the Axioms of Corax.

 **Battle cry**

"Victoriam Venandi!"


	11. Chapter 11

**Shade-Seer Imix K'awiil**

Imix K'awiil is the Chief Librarian of the Smoke Jaguars and is the most respected and learned master in the Chapter, a fierce warrior and a potent Psyker who wields the power of his mind as a lesser man would a sword. He stands at the right hand of the Shade-Lord, lending his knowledge and arcane lore to help the Chapter Master with the most vexing issues and find innovative solutions to impossible problems.

Imix's power was active at birth and his first cry echoed in the Warp drawing attention from all, human and Daemon alike, fortunately for all the Smoke Jaguars reached him first and took him as a swaddling babe to their Librarian's black ziggurat. Imix grew to manhood knowing no other family but the Smoke Jaguars and no other sight than the psy-inert obsidian of the Librarian's sanctuary, his induction and gene-forging was swift and sure and there was no question he would be a fine Astartes. The question of his psychic training was another matter entirely, not for Imix the arduous labour to enhance his power, rather it was a matter of teaching him to limit himself and fence off his potency lest a Daemon burrow into his soul.

The boy's first brush with Chaos came as a young novice when one of his fellows failed the test and was taken by a Neverborn, the possessed recruit slew many in the tower until it confronted the half-trained Imix and was cast out by his sheer force of will. Imix learned well that day that all power comes with consequences, that the Warp cannot be mastered and all that flows from it is poison, he girdled his soul with the armour of contempt and swore to forevermore stand against the Warp and all its horrors.

Imix became a Lexmechanic of the Librarius and one of the most powerful telepaths the Chapter had ever seen, his rise through the ranks was nothing less than meteoric and when the previous Chief Librarian died it was Imix who was selected to undertake the trial of the Shadowed Path to emerge as the new Shade-Seer. Since then Imix has proved a wise and cunning advisor to the Shade-Lord, using his intellect and his wisdom to guide the Chapter away from dubious paths and keep them pure in thought and deed. Ever he advises that to indulge in wanton destruction is the path to Chaos and that the Smoke Jaguars must cleave to the Axioms of Corax to remain righteous and worthy.

Many times, has he risked his life to uphold the Smoke Jaguar's good name and employed his subtle arts to turn the courses of many lost battles, he journeys far and wide and to many he has become the face of the Chapter and its living embodiment.


	12. Chapter 12

**Indomitus Crusade**

When the Primarch Roboute Guilliman declared the Indomitus Crusade the galaxy was quick to answer, numerous Chapter Masters offered their aid and the Smoke Jaguars were determined to be among them. Shortly after the liberation of Baal, when the Crusade was sweeping into the wider galaxy, Shade-Lord K'inich Yux sent emissaries to approach the Lord Commander and offer the services of his Astartes. Roboute Guilliman was somewhat off put by their exotic demeanour but they were hardly less strange than the Black Dragons or Iron Snakes, so they were accepted into the hosts.

The Primarch's genius immediately saw the potential of the Smoke Jaguars for the Lord Commander had need of many types of warriors, the lessons of the Great Crusade had taught him well that there were many forms of battle and he needed men of varied character to meet them. Thus the Smoke Jaguars were assigned to be the outriders of the Crusade, ranging far ahead of the Unnumbered Sons, alone and unsupported to harass and disrupt the enemies of Man until the bulk of the Crusade could obliterate them. To aid them Roboute Guilliman gave the Chapter a gift of Primaris Marines which they embraced enthusiastically; in particular they found great use for the Intercessors, Hellblasters and Rievers which soon became a staple of their campaigns.

The Primarch had already secured the services of the Raven Guard for covert operations, yet their galactic fame made them unsuitable for certain types of operations whereas the Smoke-Jaguar's anonymity worked in their favour.

Roboute Guilliman would use the Chapter as a harassment and distraction unit, oft having them attack an enemy from one direction to draw off forces only for the mass of the Indomitus Crusade to advance from another direction entirely. Another mission the Smoke Jaguars excelled at was commerce raiding, nipping at an alien empire's shipping and infrastructure, keeping them busy chasing ghosts and mist instead of attacking the Imperium.

Roboute Guilliman also saw another use for the Chapter by having them conduct field tests of some of Belisarius Cawl's more controversial and radical inventions, without the knowledge or sanction of Mars it must be noted. The Chapter pioneered the use of Grav-Chutes and grapple-guns for the Rievers, field tested unusually configured gunships that went on to become the Overlord pattern and they conducted live combat trials of Bolt rifle variants, Plasma weapons and more esoteric devices.

Many of these went on to be issued to the Unnumbered Sons, while others were quietly buried, redacted from all records and their very existence strenuously denied when emissaries of Mars made enquires. Sometimes Guilliman would even send the Chapter out into the galaxy to secure mysterious artefacts and devices which would then be turned over to Belisarius Cawl for further investigation or occasionally be sequestered by the Primarch himself for undisclosed purposes.

Thus, in a small and unremarked way the Smoke Jaguars played a vital role in the Indomitus Crusade, fighting unobserved and expecting no thanks yet knowing that their deeds were of immense value to the Lord Commander himself. In particular they took great pride that their tradition of appointing War-Leaders inspired Guilliman to create the position of Lieutenants amongst the Astartes, though it must be stressed that this honour is also claimed by three score other Chapters so here the Smoke Jaguars may be giving themselves more credit than is actually due.


	13. Chapter 13

**War of Shadows**

Far beneath the barren and cold world of Clom there was an abandoned mineshaft, filled with darkness and air made stale by centuries of stillness, it was desolate and foreboding in a way that would have made any man cautious. Yet today the air was disturbed, Trans human giants were passing by bearing thick armour and weapons a grown man would struggle to lift, their armour was dark ashen grey over their legs and torsos yet smoky grey over their arms and pauldrons, they were a squad of the Smoke Jaguars.

In the utter darkness the Astartes silently ghosted along, doing absolutely nothing to give away their location and preternaturally aware of their surroundings at all times. At their head was one who was totally different, his armour festooned with arcane trinkets and he carried a staff topped with a ram's skull, one arm had been coloured deepest blue and his pauldron was fixed with an open book.

His name was Imix k'awiil and he was the Shade-Seer of the Smoke Jaguars.

Imix led his Marines deeper into the mines, the complete darkness not troubling him at all as he probed ahead with his psychic senses, led ever onwards by the spoor he had scented the second he set foot upon this world. The Shade-Seer had barely believed it when he had first detected the resonance of an artefact they had sought for millennia right under his nose, but he knew all too well the dangers of wishful thinking, a psyker especially had to beware of seeing what he wanted to see yet the trace was undeniable. Trying to explain it to a non-psyker would have been futile; it was like a scent on the breeze or a thorn in the sole of the foot, completely undetectable to anyone else but to someone who walked in the shadows it was irresistible.

Imix pushed on, drawn inexorably by the scent and eager to find his prize but he was troubled nonetheless, they had come to this world alongside the Storm Heralds Chapter but had needed to leave them mid battle. It had sat ill with Imix to abandon them, for a bunch of Emperor Worshipers they had proved surprisingly pragmatic and dedicated warriors but it been necessary. Imix told himself that his cousins would never understand the need to divert off mission, they could never grasp what this meant to the Smoke Jaguars, their hearts were whole and not ravaged by insecurity.

The Smoke Jaguars had been formed by accident more than anything else and the need to prove their worth was a compulsion every brother felt, the theft of this artefact had ravaged their souls and the festering wound would not be healed until the lost relic was returned. Nothing could be allowed to interfere with that, no sacrifice would be too great, not even the Smoke-Jaguar's good name.

Imix put the issue from his mind and focussed on the path ahead; following twists and turns with eerie prescience, leading his men ever on into the dark. Soon they came to a fork and the psychic scent became overwhelming, he held up a fist and the squad stopped silently as he pressed on alone, certain things were for the eyes of the Librarians alone.

Imix stepped into the dark, reaching for the shadows and taking their essence into his spirit, this was the subtlest gift of the Primarch, his ability to walk in the shadows and leave no trace of his passing. All sons of Corax had an affinity with the darkness but few genuinely mastered the Wraith-Slip, barely a handful of Smoke Jaguars could truly claim to be one with the shadows and even among those Imix was held to be a prodigy.

The Shade-Seer saw a faint light in the distance and practically ran down the tunnel, drawn by a psychic resonance and knowing that his goal was close, so very close. He ran up to a naturally formed cavern, filled with discarded equipment and dimly lit by lumen orbs that cast long shadows all around, set in the centre was a short pedestal and sitting upon it was a large ingot of transparisteel encasing his goal: one of the lost Shards of Corax.

Imix was almost overwhelmed by the siren call of the Primarch, the scent still clinging to the fragmented armour and the Shade-Seer nearly dashed into the cavern intending to scoop up the precious relic. Yet at the very threshold he froze still, standing with one foot poised over the line between darkness and light as his instincts screamed warnings at him: This was too easy.

Imix was shocked when a deep laugh rang around the cavern and a sibilant voice called out, "Well done, I didn't think you had the brains to recognise the snare." Imix's eyes sought the source of the voice but found nothing, only shade and shadows all around, he did not reply but drew more heavily upon his ability to Wraith-Slip and eased into the cavern, moving around the circumference with his staff raised as a guard.

The voice returned, "So you think the darkness will shield you, but I am afraid your skills are lacking, I was Shadow-Walking millennia before you were born, and the Ruinous Powers have granted me power you could not comprehend." Imix eased behind a mining cart and ducked low, scanning constantly for threats but saw nothing and the voice called, "I can see you!"

With those words a piece of the darkness detached and dashed before the Shade-Seer's eyes, a flash of pain and cry of triumph were all that he knew as a knife cut his cheek and the shade flew away to disappear once more. Imix lashed out with his staff but hit only air and was astonished by the skill displayed, his own Wraith-Slip had been penetrated and the enemies had outmatched his in every way, even the Shade-Seer's psychic senses had felt nothing.

A nagging suspicion formed in his mind and he dropped his Shadow-Walk to call, "Who are you?!"

The voice returned, "You should know child, you who hide your insecurities behind a veneer of pride!"

Imix was angered and called, "Do not pretend that you know us!"

The voice replied, "Oh but I do, I felt you the moment you stepped onto this misbegotten world, I was watching as you caught the scent and I saw you abandon your allies. Ironic is not, you come to reclaim your honour and in doing so throw it away, you seek to prove your worth and condemn yourselves in the act!"

Imix had been edging around the cavern and thought he saw the source of the voice, he pounced upon a lumpy shape but was disappointed when it turned out to be nought but a ragged sack, his reward was a cackle and a blurring rush from nowhere that stabbed into his side. His armour quivered under the blow and parted, trans human blood followed as the shadow swept away again leaving him grasping his side in pain. Imix's eyes had still seen nothing but he snarled in recognition anyway for the attack itself was all too familiar, this was the work of an Obsidian Blade and that could mean only one thing.

Imix bellowed, "I know who you are!"

The voice called, "At last he sees, so tell me what is my name?"

Imix roared, "You have none: you are Nameless!"

The voice laughed, "Yes nameless indeed, what a quaint tradition to think you can destroy someone's spirit by wiping out a name but Chaos has no need of names and now I am immortal!"

Imix backed away, staff grasped before him as he frantically looked for his foe but found nothing, but then he staggered as his boot caught something. On the floor lay an armoured shape, clad in black and smoke-grey with three dusty feathers on its helm and a blunted tomahawk in its grasp.

Imix started in recognition and called, "What is this?"

"Did you really think you were the first to find me?" The voice called tauntingly, "This was Bo'oy-Ahau Itzamatzul, First Axeman of the Chapter, who fell to my blade even as he cried his triumph."

Imix backed away in horror but tripped over another body, this one covered in bones and shrunken heads and the voice called from right behind him, "Meet Canmai-Ahau Xpiayoc, he of the quick knife but not quick enough."

Imix spun about but found only a corpse with a War-leader's stripes draped before him on a crate as the voice stated, "This one was Batab Chicahua, the indomitable, the unbreakable… sadly now broken."

Imix cried, "I will kill you for this!"

But the voice declared, "No you will not."

With that the shadows coalesced into a flurry of needles and came at Imix in a blizzard of attacks, he lashed about with his staff but hit nothing, the shadows whipping around him and slipping past his guard. Strike after strike cut him and he felt how slow, how weak he was in comparison to his opponent, this foe had spent millennia practicing his skills and the Shade-Seer could not even see his enemy.

The shadows withdrew and Imix fell to his knees as his blood poured out from a hundred cuts, the voice sneered, "How weak!"

Imix screwed up his eyes as he muttered something and the voice whispered in contempt, "What was that?"

The Shade-Seer drew in a ragged breath and said, "You made a mistake."

The voice came even closer and said, "What would that be?"

Imix's eyes snapped open and blazed with caged lightning as he roared, "You should not have told me their names!"

With that the Shade-Seer opened his mind to the warp and let its essence flow channelling the power and reaching for the souls of the dead, these brothers had all fallen to the foe, they had given their all and died in service to the Chapter but by the traditions of the Smoke Jaguars as long as one's name endured then they were not truly dead. Imix felt their ghostly presences still lingering over their bones and his mind's voice cried, "Brother Itzamatzul I call upon your axe, Brother Xpiayoc your knife is needed, Brother Chicahua the Chapter requires your strength!"

Imix saw three ghostly silhouettes form before him, each broad and trans human in aspect and each filled with potent energy, normally such spirits could not touch the living but fired by the Warp's power they manifested in the waking world. As one the ghosts shot forwards and enveloped a single shadow, circling it with tinny war cries ringing out. The shadow flailed madly but could do no harm to the ghosts and it crashed to and fro in a wild attempt to get away, yet the ghosts clung to it like an inverted shadow making it blaze with light.

Imix drew upon his strength, grasping his force staff and thrusting out at the shade and felt the weapon contact with something, then he let his power flow There was a fierce explosion of light and he felt the soul of his foe ripped free from its body to be cast into the warp, left there as prey for Daemons without a name to guide it home.

Silence fell and Imix wearily drew himself to his feet, the three ghosts stood before him staring pointedly even as they faded back to the spirit world, Imix bowed in gratitude and psychically sent a vow to take their remains home and carve their name-glyphs where all could see. The spirits seemed satisfied with this and contentedly disappeared leaving only a dead corpse at their feet, Imix ignored it lest he see and remember some detail of its identity then he turned away to leave it forgotten and nameless in his wake.

Confidently he strode over to the pedestal and scooped up the shard, this was a triumphal moment, but he felt curiously hollow and unsatisfied by it, he paused and examined his feelings, searching for the source of his distress then he spun on his heel and ran from the cavern.

There may yet be time to save the Storm Heralds and redeem the Smoke-Jaguar's good name.


End file.
